The Engagement of B & X
by Lord Mesron
Summary: Sequel to Taming the Rat. Two of our favorite characters get engaged.


+ The characters belong to WB (and/or UPN), Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon with the exception of Smitty. He's my creation.  
  
The Engagement  
  
by Scott R. Barnett  
  
It's been 8 months since Xander had returned to Sunnydale and things were going great. He was enrolled in college at UC Sunnydale and was taking a full schedule of classes. He was trying to catch up some so that he might graduate closer to the time that his friends did. Due to the 2 years that he had done in the army, Willow and Buffy were now juniors while he was a freshman. The extra class work didn't bother him as much as it once did. The 2 years in the army had changed him for the better. He had matured a lot while in the army and the new Xander was much more serious about his future. Especially if that future included Buffy Summers. They had been dating steadily since a few days after he had come home. They were very serious about each other.  
  
It seemed that the whole gang had hooked up over the last several months. Xander had Buffy, Willow and Tara were together, Cordy and Angel, and Oz and Amy. To top it all off Giles and Joyce had gotten engaged two months ago. The only exception was Dawn. But she was still in high school and was dating, though not with a steady boyfriend.  
  
Today was a busy day for Xander. It was Friday. Thus he had three classes today, which included an exam in one and a presentation in the another. Luckily the third class was an interesting one. It was called The Mythical and The Mystical. It was a new class this semester. It was being taught by Rupert Giles. Buffy and Xander had come up with the idea and had talked to Giles about it. He had thought that it might be interesting to teach a class, so he talked to the college about it. They went for it. Buffy, Xander, Willow and Tara were all taking the class. The only difference with these four versus the other students in the class was that they knew that what Giles was talking about was real, while the other students thought it was fictional. Giles deliberately let the other students think so. The world as a whole was not ready to accept the knowledge of demons and vampires as anything other than fiction.  
  
On top of the three classes, Xander also had to take part in a career day at the high school. Thus he was dressed in his dress uniform today. This was making a number of the girls in his classes yearn for him. He was always amazed how a man in a uniform could turn women on. Even his friends commented on how good he looked in it. He didn't mind this from Buffy, but to hear it from Willow and Tara was a little strange. Hell, even Dawn and Joyce made a comment when he saw them this morning when they dropped Giles off at the college. His car was in the shop.  
  
To top it all off he had to report to the base tonight. His one weekend a month for the army reserves was this weekend. He planned to take Buffy out tonight for dinner and dancing before he reported in though. As long as he reported to the base by 2300 hours he was fine.  
  
He finished up his last class for the morning and went to meet the girls for lunch. They all had this period free. He had about an hour and a half before he had to be at the high school. He walked over to the diner near the campus. They had arranged to meet there.  
  
"Hey soldier. Busy?" purred a female voice from behind him.  
  
"Nope, but I think my girlfriend might get jealous." replied a smiling Xander.  
  
He turned around and lifted up Buffy in his arms. They shared a quick kiss and then he put her back on her feet. She smiled at him while they walked in to meet Willow and Tara. As they walked back to their table he noticed several ladies giving him the once over. He blushed a little at that. Willow and Tara saw this and giggled. They sat down and when the waitress came over they ordered their meals.  
  
"Hey Tara, how was the anatomy exam today?" asked Buffy.  
  
"I think I aced it." said Tara.  
  
Willow smiled at her and gave her a hug. Tara was a pre-med student. She planned to go on to med school after graduation and specialize in pediatrics. Willow was studying computers. No surprise there. Buffy had decided to become an anthropologist, specializing in magic and mythology. Even less a surprise there considering it would help with her slayage. Xander was majoring in archeology. He had always liked history and felt that this was a good field for him.  
  
"Congrats!" said Xander.  
  
Their lunches arrived and they dug in.  
  
"So, what are you two up to tonight?" asked Xander.  
  
"Don't know. We'll probably go over to the Bronze." said Willow.  
  
Buffy looked over at Xander and silently asked him a question. He nodded. "You want to join us? We can make it a double date. Xander was taking me out to dinner and then dancing afterwards. He has to report to the base tonight, but not until 11:00 p.m."  
  
Tara and Willow looked at each other. They both nodded.  
  
"Sure, why not." said Willow.  
  
"Alright. I'll pick up you three at your dorm at 6:00pm. We're going to that new Italian place over on Main Street. I call and change the reservation to four people." said Xander.  
  
It was 3 o'clock and he started packing up the materials that he had brought with him to the career fair. While he was doing this, the principal stopped by.  
  
"Thank you for coming today Sgt. Harris. It looked like you had quite a turn out at your booth." said Principal Smith.  
  
"Your welcome Sir. Yes there were quite a few kids that seemed to be interested in the army. I guess it helps when the one doing the presentation is an alumni of the school." said Xander.  
  
Just as he was finishing Dawn came by.  
  
"Hi Xander." said Dawn.  
  
"Hey Dawnie. How was school today?" asked Xander.  
  
Dawn blushed a little at the old nickname that Xander called her by. Only Buffy's friend called her that. She didn't mind though. She liked all of them. They were all like big sisters and brothers to her. Dawn was only a freshman this year in high school, so wasn't part of the career day activities today.  
  
"It was ok. How did your presentation go?"  
  
"Great. I think a few of the kids that stopped by might actually join up."  
  
Xander picked up his case and they walked out of the school. Joyce was waiting in her jeep for Dawn.  
  
"Hi Xander. How did the booth go?" asked Joyce.  
  
"Great. I had at least thirty kids stop by and I think at least ten of them were pretty serious about it." said Xander.  
  
"That's nice. Come on Dawn. I have to stop by and pick up something from the store for dinner tonight. See you later Xander." said Joyce.  
  
"Have good night Mrs. Summers, Dawn."  
  
At 6 o'clock on the dot Xander pulled up to the dorm in his jeep. A couple of minutes later the three girls came out and got into the jeep. Buffy slipped into the front passenger seat and leaned over and kissed him. Willow and Tara got into the back seat.  
  
A couple of hours later they finished up at the restaurant and drove over to the Bronze. They got in pretty quickly. They had cleared up a vampire problem a couple of weeks ago there and the bouncer recognized them and let them in right away. They had fun there until 9:30pm.  
  
"Buffy, it 9:30pm. Unfortunately I need to get going if I'm going to have time to get back to my place and change into my uniform and grab my weekend bag and get to the base on time. I'm sorry for ending the night early." said Xander.  
  
"That's alright. I knew you had to book early." said Buffy.  
  
"Do you guys want to stay or do you want me to drop you off?" asked Xander.  
  
They all decided to call it a night. They drove back to the dorm and got out. Xander walked them up to the door. He kissed both Willow and Tara on the cheek and then took Buffy into his arms and kissed her passionately goodnight. They finally broke off and he waved to them as he drove away.  
  
The three girls walked up to their dorm room. They shared a suite in the dorm that had three bedrooms and a common living room. They all crashed in the living room. Buffy sat in a big comfy looking chair and Willow and Tara sat on the couch.  
  
"You know, I still can't get over how Xander's changed since high school. Back then he was the class clown, now he's so sweet. And what a kisser he is. Now I know what Cordy had seen in him." said Buffy.  
  
"Well under all that sarcasm and joking around he was always a rather tough guy. The class clown was really just an act to hide his nervousness and to try to fit in some how. Remember, I knew him since we were real little." said Willow.  
  
"Yeah, I know. Was he always so protective though?" asked Buffy.  
  
"Yeah he was. He always looked out for me. If anyone was bothering me he would jump into it. Unfortunately that usually meant that he was now their target. If you remember he tried to do that for you too back in high school." said Willow.  
  
"I remember. It used to annoy me. I would try to tell him to stay where it was safe, but he would just ignore me and try to protect me anyway. He still does. I don't mind it so much now though, since he can now usually take care of himself. Its kind of like he appointed himself all of ours protector. He treats you guys like sisters and he is very protective of Dawnie and my mom. He treats Dawnie like a kid sister and my mom as if she was his mom."  
  
"Well, remember what he said when he first came back."  
  
"Yeah, I do. He promised then that he would look out for all of us. I think it's very sweet of him."  
  
"I do too. He has always been more like a bother to me then just a friend."  
  
"I like him too." said Tara.  
  
Xander drove home and changed into his fatigues. He grabbed his weekend bag that he had already packed and then drove to the base. After he checked in with the Officer on Duty he walked over to the Reserves' barracks and started talking with some of the men that were in his unit. He went to sleep a little later.  
  
Saturday was a fun filled day of drill and meetings. As he was a Sgt. he led most of the drills. His Reserve unit was a Special Forces unit.  
  
On Sunday, during the morning briefing with the officers they got some interesting information. They were informed that their unit was being called to active duty due to the war in Afghanistan. Being a Special Forces unit they would be running some covert operations. They would be deploying next Saturday and would probably be deployed for at least a month. They were not to tell anyone where they were going. In fact their actual destination would not be revealed until they were on their way. As a result of the deployment they were dismissed after the briefing and allowed to head home. They would all have to make whatever arrangements were necessary in their private lives due to this.  
  
Xander went back to his barracks, packed his bag and said goodbye to his men. He then got into his jeep and drove home. He had a number of things that he had to do this week. As finals were still a couple of weeks away he would have to talk to each of his teachers about taking the finals early. He didn't think that this would be a problem. There was also a special item that he had ordered a month ago that he hoped would come in early this week.  
  
On Monday morning he got to the college early. He went and talked to each of his professors and they all agreed to give him his finals early. They would start on Wednesday. He had left Giles for last.  
  
He knocked on Giles's office door.  
  
Giles looked up. "Yes Xander?"  
  
"I need to talk to you about the final exam. I just received deployment orders. My unit is being deployed this coming Saturday and we will be gone for at least a month. As a result I have arranged with all of my other professors to take their final exams early. I was hoping that I could do the same with your class. Here's my exam schedule as it stands right now."  
  
Giles took the schedule from Xander and looked it over.  
  
"That shouldn't be a problem. How about tomorrow at 10am?"  
  
"That would be fine. Thank you."  
  
"Have you told anyone else about your deployment yet?"  
  
"Not yet. I spent yesterday afternoon getting things in order due to it. Please do not say anything yet. I'll tell everyone on Wednesday evening."  
  
"Ok."  
  
Every Wednesday evening the whole gang would gather at the Summers house for dinner. It had kind of become a tradition.  
  
Wednesday rolled around and luckily for Xander that special item that he had ordered finally came in on Tuesday. What it was was an engagement ring. He planned to ask Buffy to marry him. He wanted to do it tonight in front of all of their friends.  
  
He got to the house early. He had told Buffy that he would meet her there, as she had a late class that day and he said that he had some errands to run. In actuality he wanted to talk to Joyce and Giles before the rest of the gang showed up.  
  
When he got there only Joyce, Giles and Dawn were there. He asked to speak to Joyce and Giles privately. Dawn was up in her room doing her homework. They sat down in the living room.  
  
"Joyce, Giles there's something that I wanted to talk to you about. I know its kind of old fashioned, but I figured that it was appropriate. Joyce since you're her mother and Giles since you're her Watcher, and soon to be stepfather, I wanted to ask for your permission to marry Buffy. You know that we have fallen in love over the last eight months and I would like Buffy to be part of my life forever."  
  
They both looked a little stunned, but not too much. They had figured that this was going to come sooner or later. They had both seen how happy together the two of them seemed to be. They looked at each other and Joyce nodded her head to Giles.  
  
"You have our permission Xander. You take good care of her." said Giles.  
  
"When are you going to ask her?" asked Joyce.  
  
"I planned to do it tonight after dinner. I wanted to do it with all of you here. I also have another announcement to make at that time."  
  
The rest of the group started arriving and Joyce went back into the kitchen to finish up dinner.  
  
After dinner they all moved into the living room and sat down and talked. Buffy and Xander were sitting together on the love seat.  
  
After a little bit Xander asked everyone to be quiet for a moment. He then got off the love seat and got down on one knee in front of Buffy. He took the ring out of his pocket.  
  
"Buffy, you know that I love you more than anything. I have loved you since I first met you five years ago. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" asked Xander.  
  
Buffy just sat there in shock with her hands in front of her mouth. The other girls were also in shock and sat there awaiting her reply.  
  
"YES!!! Yes I will marry you Xander." She leaned down and kissed him soundly. Xander returned the kiss while he slipped the ring onto her finger.  
  
Everyone just started talking all at once. Everyone came over to see the ring and to congratulate the couple. Xander just sat there smiling with his arm around her.  
  
After about ten minutes of oohing and ahhing over the ring and the engagement everyone settled back down. Xander got all of their attention yet again.  
  
"I have another piece of news. This one isn't quite as good. I have received deployment orders. My unit will be deploying this Saturday and we will be deployed for at least a month. I do not know where we are going. As we are a Green Beret unit we will be taking part in various covert operations. We will not be told our destination or our mission until we are under way."  
  
Buffy and the rest of them looked sad at this news. Xander wrapped his arm around Buffy and pulled her against him.  
  
"Don't worry. I'll be back. I just proposed to you. I'm not going to miss out on the wedding." said Xander, smiling at her.  
  
The talk for the rest of the evening centered on his deployment and their engagement.  
  
Saturday rolled around and Buffy and the girls drove him to the base in his jeep. He was leaving the jeep with Buffy to use if she wanted. The group had had a little party for him the night before.  
  
He hugged each of the girls and then kissed Buffy. After they broke apart he waved goodbye as they drove off and ten reported in at the base. The unit flew out that afternoon for their mission.  
  
A month and half later his Green Beret A-Team returned from their mission. After a lengthy debriefing they were released from active duty and returned to reserve status. Their mission had been successful and everyone was looking forward to getting back to their loved ones.  
  
Xander had been allowed to call home the day before and had let Buffy know that he was coming home. When the unit was dismissed he grabbed up his gear and met Buffy at the gate. She had come alone in his jeep. He dropped his bag and grabbed her up in his arms and they kissed. A couple of minutes later they broke apart and drove back to his apartment.  
  
"We've been invited over to my mom's house for dinner tonight."  
  
"Ok. If you don't mind I'd like to get a shower and maybe take a quick nap before we go over."  
  
"That's fine. Do you mind if I take the jeep and run some errands while you're napping?"  
  
"No problem."  
  
A couple of hours later Buffy returned and after Xander finished getting dressed they drove over to her mom's house. They pulled up in front of the house and walked inside.  
  
As soon as they closed the door behind them the lights came on and everyone jumped up and yelled surprise. It turned out that her mom and the gang had planned at surprise Welcome Home/Engagement party for them.  
  
Everyone was there. Joyce, Giles, Dawn, Tara and Willow. Also there were Angel, Cordelia, Oz and Amy. Willow had gotten in touch with Angel and Cordy in L.A. and had asked them to come out for it. As far as Oz and Amy, well the tour was over and the band had come home to Sunnydale while working on their next album. Oz and Amy were now sharing an apartment in town and they had both enrolled at UC Sunnydale. Oz was majoring in music performance while Amy was studying music from the business side of it.  
  
Another change that he found out about was that Giles was now working with Willow, Tara and Amy on their witchcraft. It turned out that, while he did not tend to use it, Giles was a competent mage. He took over their training as he felt it was safer for all involved. He had been afraid that if they kept self-training that they might fall into the dark side of the craft. He had been there in his younger days and had barely gotten away from it. All three girls were happy with him training them. They held classes at his apartment three times a week.  
  
Giles came over to Xander.  
  
"Here you are Xander. This is your course schedule for the summer semester. I talked to your professors and they all agreed to help you catch up on the couple of weeks that you've missed so far. I'll give you a helping hand as well."  
  
"Thanks Giles. I really appreciate it."  
  
They spent the rest of the evening enjoying themselves.  
  
END 


End file.
